SoftBank announced the deployment of e-kakashi, an AI-powered solution for agriculture in Colombia for the Smart Rice Farming Project.

The Project, which is supported by the Inter-American Development Bank’s innovation lab called IDB Lab, aims to improve the productivity and sustainability of rice farming in Colombia.

SoftBank aims to contribute to the realization of sustainable agriculture around the world by offering e-kakashi.

In Phase 1 of the project, e-kakashi will be installed for trials at the estates of three farmers  in the Cauca and Valle de Cauca Departments. While verifying the results of e-kakashi with local rice milling companies, CIAT and SoftBank will jointly create digital manuals for low-input rice cultivation.

The project will expand coverage to the Arauca and Casanare Departments for non-rice crops during the Phase 2.

e-kakashi simplifies the sharing of cultivation know-how since it can link collected data to farming experiences in digital manuals. e-kakashi identifies important growth and stunting factors at each stage of crop growth by utilizing AI with accumulated agronomical insights. With these tools, e-kakashi is expected help farmers better navigate the cultivation process, increasing their productivity.

SoftBank’s e-kakashi has already been tested in Colombia by CIAT at its pilot rice paddies and the Project will utilize insights from these tests to deploy e-kakashi as an ICT-based solution.

After trials that use e-kakashi with CIAT, rice milling companies, rice farmers and others are finished, the project aims to spread commercial-level implementation in Colombia and to other LAC region countries.